Summer 2015. An empty warehouse in Ghent. Wooden beams, bare brick walls. A Spartan space where promising art graduates and emerging artists are invited to showcase their output. I know what to expect – Jef invited me to come and have a look, and on the way there he talks nineteen to the dozen about the manufacturing process and the things that inspire him – and yet, the surprise is complete: this is not what I expected to see.
Here and there, spread out over the vast space, Jef has hung a selection of his impressive solid concrete ‘paintings’. Given the fact they are presented in these harsh surroundings, before I walked in, I imagined them to blend in with the location, to almost disappear against their coarse background. Quite the opposite is true: the works, however sober and restrained in appearance and choice of materials – concrete in white, grey and black hues, some of them highlighted with a simple wooden frame – stand out in the room.
Is it the well-considered spot the young artist has chosen for each piece? Is it the faint afternoon light penetrating deeply into the immense space? The atmosphere in the derelict building perhaps? Fact is that Jef’s work, at least in this setting, conjures up associations with religious tableaux. That is most definitely the case with an ascetic off-white piece that has two thin vertical lines dividing it in three equal parts – a result of the casing technique I will learn later. A contemporary answer to medieval triptychs, a Rubens or a Memling for our times, a subtle reference to the Mystic Lamb in the same city. The work is mesmerizing. Although invisible at first sight, when you walk past it reveals its lustre. It shines and glistens and changes continuously. A masterpiece.
Fast forward to 2018. In the build-up to his biggest solo show to date, the artist and his friends gather in the gallery. The setup has been meticulously planned. I witness how two sculptures – one of them a stunning self-portrait – are carefully taken out of their casting. Other works lean against the wall, waiting to be positioned exactly where Jef wants them in order to create the configuration he has envisioned. The exhibition space and his oeuvre as one perfectly balanced composition.
On opening night I speak with another early admirer of Jef’s work. We agree that the artist has matured considerably since he left the academy, and even since his last solo in 2017. This time the room is filled with colour: three dazzling white pieces presented on a bright yellow wall, a sensational pink one that pays homage to the white triptych I saw in Ghent, many site-specific works such as an impressive black series that mirrors the glass panes of the entrance door, long yellow beams echoing the radiator next to them, intense blue ‘portraits’ of the two gallery owners, artworks in pale green and lilac. This is a young artist, not even 30 and already at the height of his powers. Something tells me there’s a lot more to come. Jef Meyer’s future is set in concrete.